Valentine Bouquets

I was in a Mommy chat room recently and several moms were talking about making Valentines with their kids for family and friends. I immediately thought of this cute and easy art project. It works great as a craft project to do with your kids or a cover to a Valentine's Day card.

All you need is:

1. Construction Paper
2. Crayons
3. Heart stickers (I used foam stickers for a 3-D effect)
4. Cupcake baking cups
5. Glue

Just glue the baking cups onto your paper. You can use as many as you want. Then, add stems and leaves below the flowers. Last, embellish with your heart shaped stickers.

This project also makes a really cute Valentine's Day card. Just fold your 8.5" x 11" paper in half and use the smaller size baking cups for the flowers.

You can also get creative with what you put inside the flowers. I used hearts, but you could use anything. Cut-outs of your child's picture would look really cute on a Grandparents card!

Dance Day

What's the best way to get the wiggles out on a snowed in, rained in, or cold in day? Have a dance party of course!

Now, in a perfect world, we would blast our favorite songs and our little ones would boogie down. (I'm currently partial to a little Bon Jovi and Daughtry since I'm going to the concert in April.) But, in the real toddler world, we may have a longer dance party if we blast tunes that our kids are into too.

If you're looking for something new to add to your kiddie-tunes playlist on your iPod, look no further than AndyZ. He's our favorite! Greg and Ashley can't get enough of I Went To a Party With Dinosaurs and Sticky, Sticky Bubblegum. Mom's favorite is I Love You Because You're You. It's true I have been known to listen to this song in my car with no kids in sight.

Here is his website if you would like to check him out: http://www.andyz.com/ And, can also find his music on iTunes.

I also highly recommend Greg and Steve's Kids in Motion series. They have lots of fun songs that your toddler can learn from while getting their groove on like Animal Action and Body Rock. Of course, my family's favorite is their song The Freeze. What's better than a good old fashioned freeze dance to get you giggling?!

Unfortunately, Greg and Steve are not as easy to find. I got my copy at a teacher supply store and you can also find them on Amazon.com. No iTunes for them yet, but maybe soon?

Don't forget to add things like scarves and rhythm sticks into the dance action. Anything to keep everyone moving and having fun.

The bonus to this toddler activity is that you can get a work-out too. And, if you're like me and haven't seen the inside of a gym since last November, this will be helpful for both you and your thighs!

No matter what great music you choose to rock your house with... dance, baby, dance!

Chinese Water Color Painting

Gung Hay Fat Choy!

Chinese New Year is just around the corner. (It's the year of the Rat, by the way.) I used to do this art project in my classroom. It turns out looking very much like a Chinese Water Color Painting and the technique is super-fun for your kids to do.

First of all, here is a look at the finished product:Pretty cool, right? And, it is so easy to make. The picture on the left my son and I did together, the one on the right he did on his own.

Here is what you need:

1. Paper - I like to cut my paper long. The white construction paper in this picture is 6" x 11". I just glued it onto a slightly larger piece of black construction paper when we were done painting.


2. Black paint - Any kind of black tempura or other kids paint will do. You will have to water it down, though. I used equal parts paint and water.


3. Red paint.


4. Drinking straws. It's easier if you cut them in half!

Directions:

1. Place a hearty drop of black paint onto the paper.


2. Blow on the paint with your straw. It works best if you blow from the side, not directly above the paint. Continue adding drops of paint as necessary.



3. When you feel like you have enough black paint on your page, add the red cherry blossoms. Just use your finger tip to put the red dots onto your black branches.

Looking for another way to share the fun of Chinese New Year with your kids? Here are two books that I really like:

Sam and the Lucky Money by Karen Chinn - This is a great story about Chinese New Year, but it's a little wordy. If you are looking for a shorter story try this one: Dragon Dance - A Chinese New Year Lift the Flap Book by Joan Holub

Indoor Ice Skating FUN

We've had some rainy and cold days around here. My kids often spend much of the day inside and they start to get a little ornery if I don't get them moving. I was looking for a way to get their wiggles out when I found this fun, indoor ice skating idea. It's a very simple way to get some movement when you're stuck inside on a cold Winter day.

Just cut 2 rectangles of waxed paper for each of your kids (waxed paper should be a little bigger than their foot/shoe). Once you stand on the waxed paper, you will see how easy it is to glide on your carpet, just like ice skating! And, here is an important note... while it's easy to glide on your carpet like this, I found that it wasn't "slippery", so no one slid too much and got hurt.

Now, play some upbeat wintry music and let the skating fun begin!

Hiatus

Sorry for the brief blog hiatus. DH has been working from home and apparently "work" trumps "playing" on the computer. :) Oh well. I have a few more fun ideas up my sleeve and promise to post them next week!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Mailboxes

Okay, I know it's a little early for this particular idea. However, yesterday I was shopping at Target and found the perfect thing for this craft. I know that universally speaking, all moms love to shop at Target. So, I'm giving you a reason to head to your local store and check out their dollar aisle!

Look at these cute Valentine's Day mailboxes I found for just $1 each!

Last year, I wrote notes and Valentine's for my kids throughout the month of February. This year, I thought it would be fun to decorate these mailboxes and deliver their mail inside.

If you want to do this craft with your kids, it would be super-easy and fun to give them Valentine stickers, letter stickers and/or Foamies stickers to decorate their own mailbox. You could even use glitter glue pens (can you tell I love glitter yet?) Or, if you want them to have the mailboxes year round, you can choose non-Valentine decorations.

I am planning to surprise my kids with their mailboxes next month, so I decorated these myself. Here is what they looked like when I got done. If you don't have a Target near you, you can always cover a shoe box in pretty paper and decorate that instead.

The possibilities are endless. And, no matter when you use them, kids LOVE to get mail!

One more thing... Once you introduce the mailboxes, it's a great idea to fill a box with paper, pens, scissors, old note cards, envelopes and stickers. Leave it near the mailboxes so your kids can use it to create their own mail to send to you or to their siblings.

Glitter Play Dough

I know this recipe is not remotely new or earth shattering, but it is an activity that all of our kids love. At our house we go through play dough faster than cookies.

This is the perfect activity for my family today because the next few days are supposed to be seriously stormy at our house. We could use a good indoor activity and a little glitter to brighten our day. Besides, I love anything that can keep my kids busy for hours!

Ingredients for play dough:

• 1 Cup Flour


• 1/2 Cup Salt


• 2 tsp. Cream of Tartar


• 1 Cup Water


• 1 Tbs. Vegetable Oil


• Food Coloring
• Glitter

First - Combine flour, salt and cream of tartar in a saucepan. In a separate bowl combine liquid ingredients. Slowly stir the wet ingredients into the dry ones until it is well mixed.

Second - Cook over medium heat. Stir constantly. Play dough is done when it pulls away from the side of the pan and a ball forms.

Third - Let the dough cool. Kneed the dough for a few minutes until it is smooth. Add in your glitter while you are kneading the dough. (Of course, you can skip the glitter if you just want plain colored dough.)

**Don't forget to store your new dough in an airtight container or Ziploc bag to make it last longer.

**I have two kids, so I often double the recipe to ensure there is plenty of dough to go around.